Port Adelaide Torpedo Station

photo: flinders.edu.au

The City of Adelaide’s coastline has long been protected by fortifications such as Fort Largs and Fort Glanville from seaborne threats. In the 1880s South Australia had its own ship The Protector, which safeguarded incoming passenger and cargo ships from seaborne enemies.
The ship was commissioned, in part, because of pirates and pressgangs working from Kangaroo Island and Port Adelaide, but also because of the ever-present threat of war from Prussia, which in those days, was paranoia that hung over the colony from the other side of the world.


 Another form of protection for the colony was the torpedo station situated at the North Arm of the Port River, which operated from 1877 until 1916. This outpost had several buildings and a jetty that extended into the Port River. It was connected to other defence sites by a telegraph line.
  In 1905, an English built torpedo boat was commissioned to the small base, a 12 ton, 63-foot vessel that only saw service for less than a decade, when it was decommissioned and scrapped.

6" naval gun, originally mounted at Torpedo Mine Station 1885-1916 on Port River
Image:
History SA

 Until 1961, the residents of Port Adelaide had believed that the Torpedo station was a myth. That was until a 6-inch naval gun was found by the Port Adelaide Council buried deep in the mud.
The gun was taken to the Birkenhead Naval Reserve, where it lay until 1994 when it was moved to the Council Depot in Tracy Street.

 
  In 1996, the now semi-restored gun was moved to Birkenhead and was placed on Cruickshank’s Corner. In 2012 the gun was moved into the custodianship of the Port Adelaide Historical Society. They moved the gun into the Port Adelaide Maritime Museum, where it still resides today.

© Allen Tiller 2016